Spending More Time in a QSO

Lately I have been doing a lot of hit and run contacts – either with DX stations or SOTA Activators.  I can copy pretty fast in these quick exchanges.  However, I have noticed that my speed has slipped a bit when in a normal QSO.

So today I decided that I would start having at least one QSO that was a bit more of a rag chew each time I operate.  Today I had two!

Here is the run down for today (15 meters seemed pretty dead, and so did 17 meters)…

KE7GKM – I heard Bob calling CQ on 20 meters and gave him a call.  He was in Boise, ID.  He was running a K2 at 5 watts into a dipole.  This was a nice 2xQRP QSO.

Then I took a look at SOTA Goat and noticed several activators….

W4EON – Eric was on Mill Mountain, VA – W4V/HB-023 – he had good ears since he gave me a 449 and I gave him a 559 on 20 meters.

WA7JTM – Peter was on Baker Butte, AZ – W7A/AE-035 – RST of 559 both ways.

N7CW – Bud was on West Spruce Mountain, AZ – W7A/AW-202 – it sounded like he was running a nice little pile up!  579 exchanges both ways.

Still had a bit of time, so I tuned down 20 meters and heard….

KF7YHB – Wyatt was calling CQ with a nice clean fist.  His QRZ page says he sometimes uses a “cootie key” – I wonder if he was today??  We had a nice long QSO which was really enjoyable – the speed was perfect and Wyatt had a great fist and signal!

On another note, I hope to make some more progress on the Mag Loop antenna this weekend – get it mounted and tuned up and hopefully make a QSO!  We are heading to the Kansas State Fair on Sunday to see one of my sons friends and our neice and nephew – so that should be a fun day!

Burke Jones, NØHYD, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from Kansas, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

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